Magazine to publish Dec. 14 tribute

Nanci G. Hutson

Updated 11:16 pm, Tuesday, July 30, 2013

David Wheeler, father of Sandy Hook school shooting victim Benjamin Wheeler, address state legislators during Connecticut's Bipartisan Task Force on Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety at Newtown High School on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. The task force was created in response to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Photo: Jason Rearick, The Stamford Advocate

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NEWTOWN -- The Newtowner, a grass-roots, all-volunteer arts and literary magazine with six prior editions, plans to publish a historical edition in August to honor those killed Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

It will include art and the words of the victims' families and assorted healing thoughts from authors and civic leaders.

Hearing from their staff contributors and subscribers of a need for such a tribute, Editor Georgia Monaghan decided it could be something "of hope and healing to our community."

So the edition that was in the planning stages before the tragedy was revisited.

In August, it will become a piece of town history, one Monaghan hopes will be a "healing gift to the town of Newtown."

Families of the victims, Sandy Hook teachers and first responders will be given copies at no charge. Others can buy an issue through the magazine's website for $25.

"That's beautiful," the Rev. Leo McIlrath, an ecumenical chaplain who lives in Newtown and is active in the local interfaith clergy association, said about the tribute.

One of the poems to be included in the special publication, "Spring Time in Newtown," was written by Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel.

"This was a major tragedy, and it's appropriate to make space for people to share their feelings about where we are at this point in time," Praver said.

For months after Dec. 14, Praver said, he was unable to write prose. Rather, he composed a poem that he hoped would give voice to the conflicting emotions of his congregation and the community.

"We've all been rattled and jarred by the events of the tragedy, and so when I wrote this piece, I was really trying to give people permission to move on," Praver said.

In the poem, he says those who were lost that day would likely desire their loved ones to move beyond mourning so that they can "let the water flush between their toes on Long Island Sound and venture forth into the apple orchard again."

Particularly poignant, Monaghan said, will be pieces of artwork done by some of the youngest victims, first-graders Chase Kowalski, Jessica Rekos and Avielle Richmand.

The editor said she is particularly honored that David Wheeler, the father of one of the victims, offered to write an essay that will be "an anchor of the whole issue."

"This is a celebration of Newtown and what we love, and we're using the arts to find meaning and a way through this," she said.